A.W.A.R.E. Project | The A.W.A.R.E. Project |
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| Written by Administrator | |
| Tuesday, 25 July 2006 | |
 The A.W.A.R.E. Project was created to assist facilities in providing education to Nurses, Administrators, Counselors, EAP's, Human Resources and others who may be faced with a colleague's addiction or their own, and provide information on the best practices. Our belief: "Nurses who find and maintain recovery engage in safe, active, successful nursing practice." Over 10% of all nurses suffer from the disease of ADDICTION. Addiction in the nursing profession has been identified as an Occupational Hazard by the American Nurses' Association and The National Council of State Boards of Nursing. The Financial Impact "The 'rule of thumb' cost to replace a nurse is four times higher than that nurse's salary." ...New York State Nurse's Association February 2005 EASE THE FINANCIAL DRAIN by avoiding the termination of a valuable nurse and decreasing the time-line of getting a recoveing nurse back to work with safety measures in place. RN turnover is costly in terms of:
Cost of RN replacement:
If terminated:
The A.W.A.R.E. Project team members are available to assist your facility or practice in developing an action plan, based upon the most up-to-date information, to more effectively assist nurses and other healthcare members get the help they need. By taking a proactive position on this widely recognized problem you are protecting your patients, your facility and your nurses. Below is an outline of one of our popular presentations. The Impaired Nurse
Why Didn't I know & Now That I Know, What Do I Do? Part 1. Why Didn't I Know? The Reality of Impaired Nurses -Prevalence of Impairment -Profile of an Impaired Nurse -Predisposing Factors -Neurobiology -Peer Support Part 2 Intervention for the Impaired Nurse -Information that could sve the life of a fellow nurse -The How Who What When Where of Intervening This Continuing Nursing Education Activity was Approved by the Connecticut Nurses' Association, an Accredited Approver by the American Nurses Credentialing Centers Commission on Accreditation 5.0 Contact Hours Please contact us at
to bring this vital information to your facility or meeting. Creators & Presenters Patricia Holloran RN has been a nurse for over 30 years, working in the substance abuse field since 2000. During her career she has been able to help many nurses in her various professional positions including as a Director of Nursing. An accomplished author, Pat has written many published articles and one book: Walking Like a Duck: The True Story of a Nurse Walking from Addiction to Recovery, published in April 2005. The book is an account of Pat's own story of addiction and recovery and is now required reading in many Schools of Nursing. Contact Pat at . Dede Dwyer RNC-E has been a nurse for 26 years working primarily in Labor & Delivery. From 1998-2003, Dede focused her practice on those mothers and babies affected by the disease of addiction, creating and implementing care plans reflecting the needs of new mothers in recovery. Dede is a member of the Connecticut Nurses' Association as the administrative assistant in charge of continuing education. Dede is also an Honors Graduate with a degree in Drug and Alcohol Recovery Counseling. Contact Dede at . Pat and Dede have been involved in nursing education and grassroots efforts to affect change in the current disciplinary process and attitude surrounding the issue of impaired nurses and nurse recovery. The CT Nurses' Association invited Pat and Dede to be presenters at their annual Convention in 2001, 2002, and 2003. Their presentations provided education on the topic of sustance abuse in nursing; which led to recurrent invitations to nursing schools and facilities in CT reaching thousands of nurses and student nurses. They created the Recovery Nurse Community of Connecticut (RNC2) which oversees the organization of Nurses for Nurses and advocates for recovering nurses. Pat serves as Chair and Dede serves as the liaison to CT State Board of Examiners for Nurses. As Members of the CT Nurses' Association's Nurse Invtervention Committee, they helped co-author legislation for an Alternative to Discipline Program. Both have provided both oral and written testimony to the Public Health Committee in support of this vital legislation. CT-PAR (CT Peer Assistance for Recovery) was created from this committee to establish a non-profit alternative to discipline program for which Dede served as Chair and Pat as Secretary. In 2005, Dr. Robert Galvin, Commissioner of hte Department of Public Health, selected Pat and Dede to serve on an ad hoc committee to research the feasibility of an Alternative to Discipline program which completed work in January 2006. Recoveing Nurses is proud to have Dede and Pat as part of our team and to offer their services as part of our outreach efforts. |
| Wednesday, 10 March 2010